Method of and apparatus for tempering iron and steel articles.



H. HESS. METHOD 0F AND APPARATUS POR TEMPBRING IRON AND STEEL ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY l, 1911. n

1,1 35,358, Patented July 11,1911,

@WVM/maso: Suva-V1 To@ 1,14' ,l m L.) t @513 @Hom/1mg l y Hoge/wo Kim/12M @aj En s'rArs PTE z i HENRY HEss, or PHILADEIIPHI, PENsYLv'NI'.

METHOD 0F AND APPARATUS FOR TEllPERING IRON AND STEEL ARTICLES.

- Specification of Letters I-Patent. Patented uly 14, 1914a applicati@ niet may 1, 191,1. 'seal N6. 624,448.

To alljwhom may concern.'

13e it known that I, HENRY Hass, a citizen of the United States, residing at. Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Tempering Iron andSteel Articles, of which the following is aV specication, reference being 'had therein to the accompanyin drawing. I.

The present invention re ates to .method of and apparatusfor tempering iron and steel articles of various kinds, for example, steel balls which have to be hardened for use in ball bearings and other well known uses.

As is well known there isa certai'ntem perat-ure at whlc-h lron and .steelwartlcles V when Aheated will ,substantially lose their entire magneticqualities;,and,it is truethat this temperature, which may be termed the critical temperature, is for many purpQses the proper temperature for heating iron and steel articles for hardeningv or. tempering' purposes, the heated article being thereafter quenc ed in water or other quenching meiso dium. I

It is an object of the present invention to takeadvantage of these facts tolenable the employment lo f ar4 magnet or magnetic fOiCe. foixcontrollmg temperingI operationsand Invention hereof, and, embo ylng the appai asuitab p ,water lbath or otherI quenching means,- and employing magnetic force 'acting upon lthe improperly or insufliclently heated v'articles so as to prevent them from being quenched, by constraming them either nacei b l While cylinders O I, other articles might vbe treated in the described apparatus,v itlis and one or v more forms of apparatus embodyployed whether balls B, B1B, etc., these being bo ing and illustrating the principles of the present. invention. V

In theaccom'panying drawings, Figure 1 represents, one i lustrative form or embodiment of the apparatus contemplated in the present invention and capable of .carrying out theprocess hereof. 2 represents a different form of embodiment. Fig.l 3 is a detail of a partHof Fig.. .2 consisting of a transverse section, beneath the magnet, of the run-way.

A convenientmanner of carrying out the method invention hereof consists in heating the balls or other articles in uthe furnace or by other means, and, causing 4each of them normally to travel a given route to the guenching'batlior placewhere the quench- .ing occurs, there being another possible route which the articlecan be causedA to take rf it. be Ein s1 1fiicier 1'tly heated, by. the in u Y en ceof a magnetic `orce serving to divert t thej b `a'1l from the normal routeto helast =mentioned rollte so that heated balls maypass to a pl such, .insu ciently ace or receptacle other than the quenchingbath andbe returned to the furnaceto be furtherlieated.

' The magnetic force ,will be opposed by some other constant force, such as ,the actionpf i gravity on the. balls or the action of any `convenient mechanical evice. `4; An apparatus forI carryin outthelmethod ratus invention is illustrated in the drawings objects hereof will appear in the A source of heat- Will understood and any suit-'able heating means .may be eni- @blow pipe, furnace or other means, a nd, for ,convenience ia portion Ahoi a ;t ur nace orlth'e llke isi indicated [as representmg a means of'heatlngthe balls orother articles ,to be ternpefred.A The manner which the balls are held or arranged Within ythe .furnace 1s immateriahbutit .is

be .caused preferred that thearticles shall the furto pass or travel gradually through nace while, being heated, ina manneranallogousto that of the so-called continuous furshown. as employedfor the tem eri-ng Y of les which are adapted totravel orpass. from the furnace by ythe force Qf gravity. l The exit C Wlhich may :beternied the furnace mout-h is properly arranged to permit the egress of the successive balls after they have become heated to the approximate temperature required.

Referring more particularly to the embodiment in Fig. l, tlieexit C will be seen to constitute a support or run-way affording a portion of the path or route of the balls from the heating place (in the furnace) to the quenching place or vessel D Containing water. A portion of the path of the ball from the furnace to the water is through the air as indicated bythe dotted line :12.

l It will be understood that the momentum of 1 each ball when it is unconstrained will carry it forward so as to fall beyond the termination of the runway C, and the quenching bath D is so located as to receive the balls which in'their normal unconstrained operation travel along the. path w. As some of the balls may be insufiiciently or improperly heated, and therefore not in a condition to be quenched, it is desired to segregate them fronrthe properly heatedballs. To this end another route is provided including the runway C and including also a path y through the air sufficiently removed from the path a:

to enablea separate receptacle E tobe located to receive the improperly heated balls. Each ball leaving the furnace will travel on one of the two routes, ai or y, and as stated normally each `ball being unconstrained would take route and pass to the quenchin'g bath. In order to cause insufficiently heated balls to take route y this invention contemplates the employment of magnetic force which constrains each ball, in this instance by exerting an attraction upon it so as to divert it from path m to substantially path y.

As representative of means which may be employed to exert magnetic force, a magnet F is shown, and this for convenience is indicated as an electro-magnet having. a

coil f of wire` around the core and a circuit f extending to a source of electricity f2 and a rheostat or controller for properly regulating the strength of the current so that the diversion of the balls will take place to the desired degree.

The operation of the apparatus above described niay be as follows: The balls B passing preferably one at a time out of the furnace A, roll down the runway C, as infall in the receptacle E which is not a quenching bath but which may either hold the balls or allow them to pass to a suitable place from whence they may be returned to the furnace to be re-heated. In this way any given article which is insufficiently heated on one operation will not be quenched but will be passed again throughthe furnace until finally when it has become properly heated it will on the next operation pass to the quenching bath; so that entire uniformisattained.

vReferring now to the embodiment of Fig. 2, a run-way G is seen exterior to the furnace mouth and along which the heated balls pass on their way either to the quenching bath or to such receptacle as will enable them to be'l returned for re-heating. This run-way, while its construction might be varied, is shown as consisting of lower supporting means or wires g and upper supporting means or wires g', within which lower and upper supporting means the ball B passes. A break is indicated at g2 in the run-way G, it being of such size and nature as to admit a ball dropping from the runway, and directly therebeiieath is located the quenchingtank D, so that normally the path of a heated ball will be from the furnace along the riin-way members g as far as the break g2 and therethrough into the ity in temperature and in tempering results quenching bath, as indicated at B3. An arrow is for convenience placed on this drawing to show the normal route of a properly heated ball, corresponding to the route m of Fig. 1.

In the embodiment of Fig. 2 the magnet F is differently placed, namely closely adjacent to the upper members g of the run-Way G, and directly or nearly directly above the break or aperture g2. A insufficiently heated ball would be attracted by the magnet and,

as it were, lifted over the aperture g2 and allowed to pass along the pat-h marked y, whence at. the end of the run-way it will drop into a receptacle E as indicated by the ball B".

The operation of this device may be as follows. The lsuccessive balls rolling out gf the furnace and along the run-Way G will normally be non-inagnetic and will consequently drop through the aperture g2 into the quenching tank; but on the contrary if insuiiciently heated the magnet F will eX- ert an attraction so as to divert the ball from the path w, namely so as to roll along the upper support g of the run-way as indicated in Fig. 3, rather than alongthe lower support. This enables the ball to bridge over the aperture g2 and to reach the lower run-way portion beyond said aperture before being released vfrom the attraction of n eff end of the run-way and by the path i/ drops into the receptacle E whence as be ore ex" lained, it may be restored to the furnace or reheating. l

' It will be understood from the hereinabove 'description that the magnet, that is to say the magnetic force', is in a broad sense to 'be'flocated `at any point short ofthe quenching place,- in' the articles norma-l route from heating place to quenching place; while in a narrower sense there is a forked path or route'for each article with the magnet located at the fork to divert the article to the abnormal from the normal path of travel.

It will have been understood from the specification that the process and apparatus hereof are in principle not limited to the particular details described and set forth, but that on the contrary the same may be indenitely varied; and no limitations to the invention are intended except such as are set forth in the appended claims.

lVhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of tempering iron and steel articles consisting in heating the articles and causing each of them to normally travel one e of two routes and employing magnetic force to selectively divert to the other route the improperly heated articles, quenching the articles taking the first route, and treating the articles taking the latter route by further heating, travel seleetion and quenching.

2. The method of tempering iron and steel articles consisting in heating the articles while giving them mechanical support in heating location7 and causing each article to normally travel from heating to quenching location, and employing magnetic force to selectively prevent each improperly heated article from traveling to quenching location.

3. The method of tempering iron and steel spheres consisting in heating the spheres while giving them mechanical support in heating location, and causing each sphere to normally roll along a runway from heating to quenching location, and employing magnetic\force to selectively prevent eaeh improperly heated sphere from traveling to quenching location.

4. The method of tempering iron and steel spheres consisting in heating the spheres while giving them mechanical support in heating location, and causing each sphere to normally roll along a runway from heating to quenching location, and employing magnctic force to selectively prevent each improperly heated sphere from traveling to quenching location by diverting it during its travel from heating to quenching location.

5. An apparatus for tempering iron and steel articles comprising in combination, a means for raising the articles to a high temperature, means for mechanically supporting the articles during heating and permitting them to travel normally to a quenching means' after heating, a quenching means, and

a' magnet arranged andv located to act selectively upon the articles to prevent improperly heated articles from traveling t0 said quenching means.

(i. An apparatus for tempering iron and steel spheres comprising in combination, a means for raising the spheres to a high temperature, means vfor mechanicallysupporting the spheres during heating,a runway along which the heated spheres may `roll nermallyto a quenching means, a quenching Ameans, and a magnet arranged and located to act selectively upon the spheres to prevent improperly heated spheres from traveling to said quenching means.

7. An apparatus for temperin iron and steel sph-eres comprising, in com ination, a means for raising the spheres to a high temperature, means for mechanically supporting the spheres during hea-ting, a -runway along which the heated spheres may roll normally to a quenching means, a quenching means, and a magnet arranged and located to act selectively upon the spheres to prevent improperly heated spheres from traveling to said quenching means bydiverting them during their travel from heating to quenching location.

8. An apparatus for tempering iron and steel articles comprising, in combination, a means for raising the articles to a high tempcrature, a quenching means, a support along which the articles may pass from the place of heating toward the quencher, and a magnet located intermediate .the heating place and quencher for selectively controlling the articles by constraining insutliciently heated articles from passing to the quencher. i

9. An apparatus for tempering iron and steel articles comprising, in combination, a means for raising the articles to a high temperature, a quenching means, a support along which the articles may pass from the place of heating toward the quencher, and a magnet located intermediate the heating place and quencher for selectively controlling the articles by constraining insuflicicntly heated articles from passing to the quencher by diverting them to a place otherl than the quencher.

10. An apparatus for tempering iron and steel articles comprising, in combination, a means for raising the articles to a. high temperature, a quenching means, a support or run-way arranged to aiiord alternate paths of travel whereby the articles may normal-ly pass along one path to the quencher, and a magnet adapted vto selectively control the articles by diverting insufficiently heated articles to the other path.

l1. An apparatus for tempering iron and steel articles comprising, in combination, a

v means for raising the articles to a high temperature,l a quenching means, a support or run-Way along Which the articles may pass from lthe heating place to issuestherefrom and pass by gravity to the quencher, and a.

magnet adapted to` selectivel control the articles located to divert insu clently heated articles to a receptacle' other than the quencher. v

or aperture through which heated articles inay pass to the quencher, and a magnet 15 l located opposite said gap or aperture for causing the insuiliciently heated articles to travel past the salne so as to divert them tor a receptacle other than the quencher.

In testimony whereof I ai'ix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY Hass;

Witnesses:

MARY MCALLA, Nn'rrm L. HAHN. 

